Category Archives: Revs. Anya & Scott’s Blog

From Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael , Senior Co-Minister “Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change...

“It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” – Albert Einstein I was someone who did not always thrive in formal classroom settings. I did well enough in school, for a time, but became frustrated with the model of...

Theme of the Month – TRUST You would probably not be surprised how often people ask ministers questions about trust, usually in the context of relationships that have disappointed, grown distant, or worse. People rightly wonder, “How do I maintain this...

From Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, Senior Co-Minister There is a slight possibility that Rev. Scott and I will move into our new home in Montclair the day before Christmas Eve. There is a greater possibility that we will move into our...

From Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, Senior Co-Minister Perhaps you were present for the “Experiment!” service on March 18, 2018. If not, I encourage you to listen to the sermon podcast (https://uumontclair.wordpress.com/2018/03/18/experiment-03-18-2018/). As senior co-minister with accountability for Worship at UUCM, I...

From Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, Senior Co-Minister “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” –Winston Churchill How do we “make a life by what we give?” At the U we do this...

From Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, Senior Co-Minister I’ve begun to receive holiday cards. One of the notes came, as it does every year, from an intentional community where I lived for a year and a half, while studying for the ministry...

Two Ministers, One Ministry, One Ministry Role: Some Changes You May See in the New Year From Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, Senior Co-Minister Rev. Scott and I are rarely referred to as “two peas in a pod,” but in the role of...

Once Said, Oft Read

I do not prefer one religion or philosophy to another. I have no sympathy with the bigotry and ignorance which make transient and partial and puerile distinctions between one man’s faith or form of faith and another’s – as Christian and heathen, I pray to be delivered from narrowness, partiality, exaggeration, bigotry. To the philosopher all sects, all nations, are alike. I like Brahma, Hari, Buddha, the Great Spirit, as well as God.

Seekers Welcome

This Unitarian Universalist congregation is welcoming of all seekers after truth, beauty, justice and compassion cherishing our diversity of race, age, gender, sexual identity and orientation, religious background and perspective on life.